I am extremely sad at the mob violence over running India’s universities in the name of service to country. The miscreants who beat up students in JNU must be condemned and dealt with immediately according to the rules of the land (to which my students would respond – lol!). That said, I do remember, when I was in college, seeing with great interest from a terrace at a friend’s house in JNU, along with my friends, students of the SFI (left wing party) party breaking cars. We were particularly fascinated by SFI female students beating up Indian policemen. Those students were also never condemned. But, I don’t remember them having crowbars. At that time, the SFI students only broke windows, broke cars, punctured tyres etc. and beat up people. Now times have changed, it is the ABVP (right wing party) who do the beating-up, the damage to physical installations, cars and violence against people is far worse. In fact, it is nothing short of a nightmare. Instead of building citizenry of India to contribute to collective goals, we are taking the “divide and rule” policy of the British colonials to absurd heights and promoting exclusion – which will be self-defeating.
So the burning question seems to be: what is the role of violence in bringing about transformative change? At least, in present day, with respect to India, I am firmly of the belief that what India needs is not violence but better waste management, water management and actions to address access to health care, poverty alleviation, air quality and climate change. These are our most real and pressing problems. We must not forget these real problems while being bombarded with shenanigans about false ones.
That’s why running Friend In Need Trust gives me such immense satisfaction. At FIN, we are inspired by the Gandhian principles of non-violence and giving of voice to all – regardless of their social or religious identity. At FIN, we will continue to teach and train Indian youth who believe in working towards a Greener and Cleaner India while embracing tolerance and non-violence.
